Upload
others
View
5
Download
4
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Page 4-1
Chapter 4
Facilities Use and Management
This chapter addresses the facilities use and management as reviewed by the Office of
Educational Quality & Accountability and is divided into the following sections:
A. Facilities Planning and Construction
B. Maintenance and Custodial Operations
C. Energy Management
D. Safety and Security
Facilities use and management includes the planning, construction, and maintenance of
buildings, the safety of students and staff using those buildings, and the security of facilities
before, during, and after school hours. More specifically, this area includes the following:
planning and designing facilities to meet educational standards and to provide a physical
framework that enhances learning conditions;
properly maintaining and cleaning facilities so that teaching and learning can take place in a
healthy and clean environment;
ensuring that the facilities are safe when students and teachers are present;
creating proper safeguards to ensure the security of the facilities during and after school
hours; and
having safety plans in the event of a crisis or natural disaster so that students and staff
members are protected.
A. FACILITIES PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION
Well-planned facilities are based upon the educational program and on accurate student
enrollment projections. The design process should have input from stakeholders including
administrators, principals, teachers, security specialists, parents, students, and the maintenance
and operations staff. The selection of building materials, interior finishes, hardware, mechanical,
electrical, and plumbing systems, and other major building components should be made by
applying life cycle cost analyses for an optimum total cost of construction, operations, and
maintenance.
This, coupled with the functional need of providing the best physical learning space possible for
students, should lead a district to recognize the absolute necessity of developing, presenting, and
implementing a long-range facilities master plan. Failure to implement a long-range facilities
master plan will eventually lead to dissatisfaction and facility concerns.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-2
Having a long-range facilities master plan will ensure that building projects are prioritized,
begun, and completed following a studied, developed, and logical process. As administrators,
faculty, staff, and school board members change, having a long-range facilities master plan will
add stability and cohesiveness to the district’s construction, use, and management of facilities.
A school district’s long-range facilities master plan is a compilation of district policies,
information, and statistical data that provide a basis for providing educational facilities to meet
the changing needs of a community. A valuable resource in developing a quality long-range
facilities master plan can be obtained from the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE),
formerly CEFPI.1 Effective long-range school facilities master planning incorporates the
following elements:
Facility Capacity: Districts establish the capacity of each school facility by setting standards
that govern student/teacher ratios and the amount of square feet required per student in a
classroom. These standards deal with the minimum size of core facilities, such as classrooms,
gyms, cafeterias, and libraries, so that schools do not overload these facilities or overuse
portable classrooms.
In 2008, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (SDE) published the second edition of
Planning for Education: Space Guidelines for Planning Educational Facilities.2 The
guidelines were developed to assist local school boards, school administrators, architects,
engineers, and planners in planning and designing educational facilities. The guidelines
arrange space information by the major activities of instructional spaces, auxiliary spaces,
and service and structure spaces for the various grade ranges. They also provide suggested
methods of calculating preliminary net and gross square footage for school buildings by
grade and major activity. Another excellent resource for facility construction is An
Administrator’s Guide to School Construction Projects, also published by SDE. 3
Facility Inventory: An accurate facility inventory is an essential tool in managing the use of
school facilities. The inventory identifies the use and size of each room, which enables
planners to accurately set the capacity of each school. Modifications to schools are noted in
the inventory so it can be kept up to date.
Enrollment Projections: Effective planning requires accurate enrollment projections at least
five years into the future (Appendix E). Accurate projections require planners to examine
district demographics and track any new construction activity in the district. Many school
planners work in coordination with county and city planners to track growth patterns.
Capital improvement program: Effective planning requires the district to anticipate its
future needs and balance these against expected resources. A capital improvement program
charts future improvements to school facilities and identifies funding sources for them. An
1 Council of Educational Facility Planners International. (2004). Creating connections: The CEFPI guide for
educational facility planning. Can be purchased at http://creatingconnections.a4le.org/ 2 http://digitalprairie.ok.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/stgovpub/id/9456/rec/4 3 http://sde.ok.gov/sde/sites/ok.gov.sde/files/CI-AdministratorsGuide.pdf
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-3
effective planning process involves the community at large, identifies district goals and
objectives, and prioritizes projects based upon those goals and objectives.
Facilities Maintenance Plan: School facility planning necessitates identifying links between
facilities maintenance and facilities construction and renovation. Capital outlay for school
construction is generally a more palatable proposition for taxpayers and public officials when
a school system demonstrates that existing facilities receive appropriate care and
maintenance. Good plans include short- and long-term objectives, budgets, and timelines –
all of which demonstrate organizational commitment to facilities maintenance.
FINDING 4-1
The district has a facilities improvement plan which encompasses the three phases of the bond
recently passed, but this does not include a life cycle planning document for existing facilities
and equipment. The district lacks a long-range facilities master plan.
Facilities planning, by necessity, involves an assessment of the current condition of buildings
and structures to provide a baseline from which a facilities master plan can be developed. The
current condition would include an assessment of the facilities and their student capacity, a
realistic enrollment projection, and a defined concept for construction and development for at
least a ten-year window into the future. In addition to The CEFPI Guide for Educational Facility
Planning4, the Seattle [Washington] Public Schools’ 2012 Facilities Master Plan is a superb
example of a well thought out and researched plan.5
RECOMMENDATION
Establish a long-range facility planning committee and develop a long-range facilities
master plan that includes life cycle planning of all equipment.
There are two steps that are vital for continuing the process for developing a long-range facilities
master plan. First, the district must take stock of what it currently has in the way of all facilities,
with a detailed analysis of the condition of each of its facilities. Second, an accurate and realistic
student enrollment projection will be necessary to weigh against the capacity of facilities. For the
facilities assessment, it may be necessary to contract with an engineering firm that can assess not
only the soundness of a facility’s structures, but also the remaining longevity of a facility’s
mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.
To identify trends and prepare for adequate facilities, equipment, and teachers, there are several
methods in use for projecting enrollment. Some of the most commonly-used models are average
percentage annual increase, cohort survival, linear regression, and student-per-housing unit. It is
important to understand that all enrollment projection models can provide only estimates of
future student enrollment. The district may use the enrollment projections provided by the state,
but for a more complete set of projections that also predict lower grade enrollments by utilizing
birth records, the district may choose to contract with a company that specializes in school
4 Council of Educational Facility Planners International. (2004). Creating connections: The CEFPI guide for
educational facility planning. Contact http://creatingconnections.a4le.org/ to purchase a copy. 5 https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=18257
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-4
enrollment projections.
FISCAL IMPACT
The cost to hire a consulting firm to conduct the facilities assessment could range from $3,000 to
$50,000. This estimate is based upon the consulting team’s experience in the field. The cost to
hire a consultant to conduct a demographic study and produce 10-year enrollment projections for
all grades could range up to $6,000. This estimate is from one of the consulting team’s partner
companies that routinely perform this kind of work.
Recommendation 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Prepare enrollment
projections. ($6,000) $0 $0 $0 $0
Conduct a facilities
assessment. ($30,000) $0 $0 $0 $0
Total ($36,000) $0 $0 $0 $0
FINDING 4-2
The district lacks design standards and educational specifications. Without standards and
specifications, the district runs the risk of constructing overly expensive schools in the future, or
constructing new schools that are not appropriately comparable, which could raise concerns
about equity. Without such standards, the district may have inconsistencies in the final design
and construction of renovations and new facilities. This could result in inequities between
facilities and systems and potential operational cost inefficiencies.
Many districts in the United States have developed design and construction standards as part of
their overall long-range facility master plans. These standards typically include requirements to
use specified types of building materials for similar spaces such as carpet for certain types of
classrooms, vinyl composition tile for science labs, etc. Oklahoma has promulgated numerous
facility guidelines and standards for the construction of educational facilities; this includes
minimum square footage guidelines for classroom sizes in elementary and secondary schools.
Desirable elements in design standards include:
minimum square footage and/or dimensions for primary programmed building spaces such as
classrooms, computer labs, science labs, instrumental music, vocal music, vocational
classrooms and shops, physical education spaces, libraries, restrooms, kitchen, and dining
areas;
number of students each space is designed to accommodate;
secondary spaces to be included in the overall building design such as workrooms,
administration areas, counselor and nursing areas, student commons, mechanical rooms,
service closets, custodial closets, store rooms, etc.;
types of wall, floor, and ceiling material to be used in the various programmed spaces;
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-5
furniture and equipment to be furnished by the district such as desks, chairs, tables,
computers, printers/copy machines, and interactive whiteboards;
fixtures, furniture, and equipment to be furnished in construction contract such as upper and
lower cabinets and countertops;
specific HVAC, plumbing, and electrical requirements, such as electrical outlets and sinks,
for various programmed spaces;
technology requirements to include number of computers, printers, data, and voice
networking;
acoustical requirements, especially for music rooms and gymnasiums;
space adjacency, such as science prep rooms directly adjacent to science labs, and art labs
with window exposures to the north;
material manufacturers and model numbers that are approved for use in the district for door
hardware, plumbing fixtures, HVAC equipment, lighting fixtures, communication systems,
and security systems; and
general requirements such as total number of student, staff, and visitor parking spaces, bus
driveway and canopy requirements, and special needs access requirements.
Districts that develop and establish these various types of standards for design, construction, and
educational specifications are better able to provide equitable school facilities across the district.
“Educational specifications” is a term referencing the programming of spaces needed to support
the educational programs and curriculum to be taught within a school facility. Cost efficiencies
can be achieved using standard types of materials and systems. By standardizing the various
building materials and components, maintenance and custodial staff members can be more
effective in the performance of their duties since they are familiar with the maintenance,
operational, and cleaning requirements of these systems and materials.
A source of design guidelines for planning new school facilities is published by the Collaborative
for High Performance Schools (CHPS).6 School districts can become members of CHPS free of
charge.
RECOMMENDATION
Include design standards and educational specifications such as programmatic square
footages within published guidelines for square footage per student in planning for new
educational facilities and later construction renovation projects.
Moving forward, the long-range facilities master planning committee should address
development of district-wide design standards and educational specifications. As part of the
6 http://www.chps.net/dev/Drupal/node
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-6
development of a long-range facilities master plan, the district should contact other districts to
obtain sample educational specifications that address programmatic square footage allocations
for building spaces. This would enable the district to have a base program to build from in
meeting with teachers, administrators, and architects when designing new facilities or additions
and renovations to existing facilities. This will also assist the district in comparing their existing
facilities to determine what improvements are needed to bring these buildings up to the agreed-
upon programmatic square footages.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING 4-3
During several reviews it was noted that some of these districts had not created a comprehensive
database of critical information for each of its facilities. The maintenance director maintains
most of the building plans that are available. Staff does not maintain facility records that would
enable leaders to effectively develop and maintain a long-range facilities master plan. Not having
this critical information, districts are at risk for incurring additional costs related to future
renovations/additions projects. In addition, districts could have increased maintenance costs due
to lack of information on warranties, operations, and maintenance manuals.
A basic facilities database would include:
building year built, dates of major renovations, and square footages;
building construction and renovation history with a description of work performed and
associated costs;
work order history;
furniture and playground equipment inventory;
parking data;
room utilization chart;
schematics and building systems; and
warranty history and data for building components and equipment for HVAC, electrical, and
plumbing systems.
As an example, one district developed a standard format for compiling historical records for each
facility within the district. This critical information is inserted into three-ring binders and tabbed
in an organized format in 15 sections. Each of the sections contains various types of information
including spreadsheets, photographs, etc. to document the history and condition of each of the
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-7
district’s facilities (Exhibit 4-1). A similar gathering of documents could be maintained
electronically as well.
Exhibit 4-1
Sample Format of Facility Historical Records Maintained in a School District
1. Executive Summary on Facility Needs: An overall executive summary of the facility,
along with recent recommendations/analysis performed.
2. Facility Analysis – Interior and Exterior: A principal’s facility review form that lists the
various facility functions and key design elements, along with a rating from 1-5 (low to
high) for each with a comment section.
3. Photo Analysis of School Site: Photographs of the school site, buildings, etc.
4. Demographics: Enrollment projections for campus.
5. Parking: Spreadsheet that includes: enrollment data; total staff; total number of visitor and
handicap spaces; number of special events; and number of cars on adjacent streets.
6. Playground: Assessment sheet that includes: listing of playground equipment; brand name
and model number; type of materials; year installed; cost; condition of equipment; type of
fill material and border; comments; and recommendation section.
7. Furniture: An inventory of the building’s standard classrooms that includes: type of
furniture and equipment; quantity; age; condition; and estimated replacement costs.
8. Facility History: Copies of floor plans from original construction and additions; year of
construction; square footage; and modular classroom locations.
9. History – Bond & Building Fund: Spreadsheet that includes: the history of past bond
issue projects; year of bond issue; project description; and estimated costs.
10. Work Order History: Printouts of work order history for the facility.
11. Current Room Utilization: Spreadsheet that includes: total number of classrooms; how
each is used; by room analysis of student occupancy per hour/per day; and a comments
section.
12. Security Cameras: Spreadsheet that includes: quantity of existing cameras; future new
cameras; locations and/or descriptions; and floor plan indicating locations.
13. HVAC/Painting: Spreadsheet that itemizes for HVAC/Electrical/Plumbing Systems: year
installed; last major replacement/upgrade; number of repairs over a three-year period; and
the next scheduled replacement year. Painting projects listing includes: year of last
painting; area last painted; cost of painting project; and the next scheduled repainting.
14. Roofing: Spreadsheet that includes: age of roof; year of last roof or roof section update;
repair history over three-year period; and the next scheduled replacement.
15. Insurance Analysis: Analysis performed by the district’s insurance carrier as to the
buildings history, size, type of construction, and replacement cost analysis.
Source: Office of Educational Quality and Accountability, Archived Exhibit
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-8
RECOMMENDATION
Develop a comprehensive database to maintain accurate records of all facilities and
properties.
By maintaining facility records in an organized format such as this, a district would be able to
update information efficiently when facility repairs, upgrades, etc., are performed. A
comprehensive facilities database would enable the district to be more effective in developing,
maintaining, and updating the district’s long-range facilities master plan.
The maintenance director should compile all available facility records in an organized format
and then determine what data remain to be developed. This database will help the district
maintain and update its long-range facilities master plan.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING 4-4
The district maintains copies of plans and specifications for most existing facilities in flat plan
files and bookshelves in the maintenance center. These documents have not been scanned to
electronic media nor stored in a fire-rated plan file or archive room, creating a significant risk to
critical facilities documentation. The district indicated that staff had scanned some documents,
but did not have time to finish. The plan files that are being used to store these documents are
typical of a design office but are not fire-rated.
Ideally, most large school districts will provide a centrally located plan room for the storage and
archiving of all facility documents which include original drawings, prints, specifications,
maintenance and operating manuals, warranties, material samples, etc. The plan room is typically
located in the maintenance department office so that the information is available for ready
reference by the personnel that maintain, clean, and manage the facilities of the district and also
for use in an emergency. These rooms are also usually protected by fire rated walls to minimize
damage that could occur in the event of a fire.
For example, Edmond Public Schools maintains copies of plans and specifications for all
existing facilities within a tornado-rated safe room (Exhibit 1-28). This room is well organized
and sized to handle the current and future needs of the district. As a certified safe room, it is
designed to withstand up to 250 mph winds from a tornado, which also provides for a safe place
for maintenance personnel to gather during an extreme weather event while also protecting
critical facility information.
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-9
Exhibit 1-28
EPS New Service Center Document Archive Room, 2013
Source: OEQA Archived Exhibit
RECOMMENDATION
Protect critical facilities documentation by purchasing fire rated plan files, constructing a
fire-rated archive room and creating an electronic backup of facilities documents.
The district should:
construct a fire-rated archive room at the maintenance center;
purchase fire-rated cabinets to store original plans and specifications; and
contract with a third party to scan all critical facility documents, if necessary.
The district should have existing staff scan all remaining documents so that they can be stored
electronically on district servers. If this is not possible, the district could contract with a
document scanning service provider to perform these services. The district should also consult
with an architect to develop a plan and cost estimates to construct a fire-rated archive room
within an existing district facility.
Currently, the district has a total of six flat plan files that are stored in the maintenance center
(Exhibit 1-29). These files are not fire-rated, nor are they located in a fire-rated space.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-10
Exhibit 1-29
Existing Flat Plan Files in Maintenance Center
Source: OEQA Archived Exhibit
The district should consider completing the scanning of all remaining existing documents so that
they can be stored electronically on servers for this critical facility documentation with its
existing technology staff and equipment resources whenever possible. If this is not possible, the
district could contract with a document scanning service provider to perform these services. The
district should also consult with an architect to develop a plan and cost estimates to construct a
fire rated archive room within an existing district facility.
FISCAL IMPACT
Construction of a fire-rated archive room could be incorporated into the scope of work of a
future construction project funded from any existing available bonds. Until the construction can
be completed the district should protect its plans by purchasing fire-rated vertical plan files. The
consulting team estimates the district would need to purchase a total of four fire rated vertical
plan files, at a cost of $4,963 each.7
Recommendation 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-2023 2023-24 Purchase four 30” x
42” fire-rated vertical
plan file cabinets to
protect existing
facility data and plans.
($19,852) $0 $0 $0 $0
7 www.schwabfiles.com/flat-plan-file-cat.html
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-11
B. MAINTENANCE AND CUSTODIAL OPERATIONS
The objective in maintaining and cleaning school facilities is to provide safe and cost-effective
buildings, a sound educational environment, increased longevity of buildings and equipment, and
the protection of school property. The maintenance and cleaning of the facilities must be
accomplished in an efficient and effective manner in order to provide a safe and secure
environment that supports the educational program and reflects proper stewardship for district
resources.
Efficiencies and economies of maintenance and cleaning are critical to ensure that resources for
direct instruction are maximized. However, extreme actions to reduce the cost of maintenance
and cleaning can result in higher than acceptable costs of repair and replacement in the years to
come. Consequently, a balance must be achieved between reasonable economies and
unreasonable cost-cutting.
Maintenance
The proper maintenance of facilities is critical to ensuring support for an effective instructional
program. Research has shown that appropriate heating and cooling levels, building and room
appearances, the condition of restrooms and other facilities, as well as occupant safety, all impact
how students and staff members can carry out their respective responsibilities.
Ineffective or inadequate maintenance provisions have proven to lead to increased costs of
facility operations by shortening the useful life span of equipment and buildings. Many school
districts have adopted rigorous preventive maintenance programs. They maintain a record of the
performance of equipment and the costs of regular maintenance to measure the effectiveness of
these programs.
FINDING 4-5
The district utilizes a simple maintenance work order system. It lacks equipment history and
reporting capabilities. The district used an online form builder (Frevvo) to create the work order
form. Work orders are submitted by all who have access to the forms homepage, are reviewed by
a supervisor, and if approved, are forwarded to the maintenance director for job assignment.
Often the work order form is not used. It was reported to the consulting team that frequently a
phone call to the maintenance director was needed to get a job accomplished. The form builder
has no memory, generates no reports, and provides no feedback to the work order originator.
In addition, the district has no viable preventive maintenance program. Other than changing
filters periodically, maintenance personnel are not tasked to perform preventive maintenance in
accordance with standing orders, manufacturer’s recommendations, or best engineering
practices. Without a preventive maintenance program, it is impossible to schedule maintenance
activities to prevent equipment breakdowns. A strong preventive maintenance program is
essential to the smooth operation of any facility.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-12
The importance of using a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) in a school
district cannot be overemphasized. A fully implemented CMMS allows for standardization of all
information and assessments of equipment reliability and performance using measures such as:
Down Time (DT);
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF);
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR); and
Life Cycle Cost (LCC).
A CMMS can be used to identify training needs based upon failures due to user error, and track
maintenance staff performance. A CMMS minimizes equipment downtime because it improves
maintenance practices and aids maintenance staff in responding faster.
In the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) publication Planning Guide for
Maintaining School Facilities, Chapter 5 contains an excellent discussion as to why preventive
maintenance is so important. Included in the guide are topics such as maintenance check lists,
preventive maintenance, job descriptions, employee training, managing supplies, and employee
evaluations:
Under the guise of “saving money”, many school districts (and other organizations for
that matter) practice what is known as “breakdown maintenance”- a maintenance
program in which nothing is done to a piece of equipment until it breaks down. And then,
after the equipment breaks, the least expensive repair option is used to return the
equipment to service. While this may sound like a cost-saving approach to maintenance,
precisely the opposite is true.
Breakdown maintenance defers repairs and allows damage to accumulate, compounding
an organization’s problems. On the other hand, regularly scheduled equipment
maintenance not only prevents sudden and unexpected equipment failure, but also
reduces the overall life-cycle cost of the building.
Maintenance entails much more than just fixing broken equipment. In fact, a well-
designed facility management system generally encompasses four categories of
maintenance: emergency (or response) maintenance, routine maintenance, preventive
maintenance, and predictive maintenance. The one everyone dreads is emergency
maintenance (the air conditioner fails on the warmest day of the year or the main water
line breaks and floods the lunchroom). When the pencil sharpener in Room 12 finally
needs to be replaced, that is routine maintenance. Preventive maintenance is the
scheduled maintenance of a piece of equipment (such as the replacement of air
conditioner filters every 10 weeks or the semiannual inspection of the water fountains).
Finally, now the forefront of facility management is predictive maintenance, which uses
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-13
sophisticated computer software to forecast the failure of equipment based on age, user
demand, and performance measures.”8
A complete maintenance program involves the following elements:
timely attention to emergency and corrective maintenance conditions. Emergency and
corrective maintenance occur when equipment fails, typically requiring more time and
resources to correct than preventive maintenance;
a preventive maintenance program to keep equipment running at peak efficiencies, to avoid
equipment breakdowns, and prevent minor problems from escalating into major ones; and
a long-range plan to address HVAC, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and low voltage
systems and/or component replacements required at the end of their expected useful life. The
plan will typically indicate the current age of the components, what year to expect
replacements to be needed, and anticipated costs using a Consumer Price Index multiplier or
estimated inflation rate.
As an example, Spring Independent School District (SISD) in Texas developed a comprehensive
preventive maintenance program that includes the maintenance schedules shown in Exhibit
4-24. This schedule could be modified to meet the needs of Oklahoma school districts.
8 https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/maintenance/chapter5.asp
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-14
Exhibit 4-3
SISD Preventive Maintenance Program Schedule
Preventive Maintenance Activity Activity Frequency
Clean A/C unit filters Bi-monthly
Change A/C unit filters 3 to 12 week intervals
Clean chiller condenser coils Bi-annually
Clean fan coil and air handler evaporator coils Annually
Clean ice machine condenser coils Every 4 months
Inspect and capacity test chillers Annually
Change chiller compressor oil and cores Every 2 years
Check chemical levels in closed loop chilled
and hot water piping Monthly
Clean grease traps Every 3 months
Inspect and test boilers Annually
Check roofs, downspouts, and gutters Monthly, repair as needed – 20-year roof warranty
Inspect exterior lighting Semi-annually
Inspect elementary play gym lighting Annually
Inspect and clean gym gas heaters Annually
Inspect playground equipment Monthly, repair as needed
Clean fire alarm system smoke detectors Semi-annually
Inspect all interior and exterior bleachers Annually, repair as needed
Clean, tighten, and lubricate roll out bleachers Annually
Check exterior building and concrete caulking Annually – 8-year replacement
Stripe exterior parking lots Annually
Check condition of asphalt parking lots Annually – 12-year replacement
Check carpet 15-year replacement
Check vinyl composition tile floors 20-year replacement
Spray wash exterior soffits and building Every 2 years or as needed
Replace glass and Plexiglas As needed
Paint interior of facilities Every 5 years
Paint exterior of facilities Every 8 years
Perform general facility inspections Annually Source: OEQA Archived Exhibit
RECOMMENDATION
Implement a CMMS that allows for work order entry, historical equipment records, report
generation, and a preventive maintenance program that addresses not only filters, but life
safety inspections and tests, and equipment preventive maintenance inspections and tests
based upon law, manufacturer’s recommendations, and best engineering practices.
The district should decide whether to procure an off-the-shelf CMMS or develop a program in-
house. Given the size and internal resources, it is logical that a district would look to an off-the-
shelf CMMS for a maintenance management and preventive maintenance system. Once the
CMMS has been procured, staff should input data into the system such as equipment type,
manufacturer and location, preventive maintenance requirements and frequencies, and other
details required by the system. Staff should also account for life safety equipment, with location
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-15
of device and required tests and maintenance as stipulated by the state fire marshal and local
authority having jurisdiction.
The maintenance director should develop the preventive maintenance system structure. As noted
in The Real Cost of Deferred Maintenance:
Facilities problems in rural schools that aren’t addressed may seem to disappear but they
don’t go away—like molds and mildew they just multiply out of sight. Poor conditions
can affect the health and safety of everyone who uses the facility, damage the morale of
students and teachers, and impair their ability to teach and learn, and threaten the facility
itself.
Proper maintenance of rural schools is vital not only because facilities are often old, and
have suffered deferred maintenance for years or even decades, but because the
consequences of improper and inadequate maintenance are so serious. If a leak in the roof
isn’t repaired, it can—like the leak in the fabled dike in Holland—wash away the entire
structure. If the district doesn’t allocate funds to fix such leaks, or do other necessary
preventive work and if state policies are predisposed to new construction, deferring
maintenance may force the closure of a good rural school. Therefore, a thorough program
of preventive maintenance with regularly scheduled inspections is critical.9
FISCAL IMPACT
The consulting team has worked with one CMMS vendor, SchoolDude, for pricing in several
Oklahoma school districts. Based upon a quotation for a sample district from SchoolDude, after
the first year setup cost of $7,735, continuation of the maintenance management and preventive
maintenance modules would cost approximately $3,320 per year.
Recommendation 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-2023 2023-24
SchoolDude
Maintenance Essential
Pro (includes
maintenance
management and
preventive
maintenance modules)
($3,320) ($3,320) ($3,320) ($3,320) ($3,320)
Quick Start Cost ($1,915) $0 $0 $0 $0
PM
Scheduling/Tasking ($2,500) $0 $0 $0 $0
Total ($7,735) ($3,320) ($3,320) ($3,320) ($3,320)
9 Lawrence, B. K. (2003). Save a penny, lose a school: The real cost of deferred maintenance. The Rural School and
Community Trust. Downloaded November 2016 from
http://www.ruraledu.org/user_uploads/file/Save_a_Penny_Lose_a.pdf
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-16
FINDING 4-6
Many Public Schools do not employ sufficient maintenance personnel to maintain its facilities.
The district employs 3.0 FTE maintenance technicians, including the maintenance director. One
technician works full-time at mowing during the grass growing season, leaving 2.0 FTE
technicians to maintain 347,992 square feet of facilities.
The APPA standard for maintenance is one FTE for approximately 45,000 square feet of
facilities. With 347,992 square feet of facilities to maintain, a district should have approximately
7.5 FTE maintenance staff. For districts with newer buildings, the need for maintenance might be
less than the standard.
However, maintenance in a school is not merely replacing equipment when it quits working.
There are various types of maintenance that should be performed to ensure the continued safe
and efficient operation of equipment and systems, as well as reducing replacement costs. Becker
(2011) wrote that maintenance can be depicted using a Venn diagram (Exhibit 4-25).
Exhibit 4-25
Overlap and Interrelationships in Types of Maintenance
Source: APPA Operational Guidelines for Educational Facilities: Maintenance, February 2011
As Becker stated:
The large circle represents all maintenance activities that the operations and maintenance
staff may perform in a year. The next smaller circle, entirely within maintenance, is
planned work. These include preventive or predictive maintenance and some corrective
work – those tasks that customers request that have some time requirements associated
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-17
with them and are not fully within the facilities operation’s control to schedule. Finally,
hanging off to the side and trying to be part of maintenance, is capital work.10
The older a building, the more corrective maintenance it will require and all buildings, regardless
of age, require regular preventive maintenance.
RECOMMENDATION
Increase maintenance staffing to sufficiently maintain the district’s facilities for optimal
operation and functionality.
The suggested staffing formula and existing district conditions point to a shortage of designated
maintenance staff in the district. The district should hire three additional maintenance technicians
to help ensure that preventive and corrective maintenance tasks are completed in a timely
fashion. However, to provide adequate training of newly hired technicians, the district should
hire these positions over a series of years. Hiring the additional technicians over the next five
school years will allow for better integration and will lessen the impact on operations and
maintenance funds.
FISCAL IMPACT
The lowest maintenance salary and benefits from the support staff list for the district is
approximately $30,000. A proposed phased-in hiring plan is shown below.
Recommendation 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Hire 3.0 FTE
maintenance
technicians.
$0 ($30,000) ($60,000) ($60,000) ($90,000)
FINDING 4-7
The district has numerous equipment and facilities deficiencies. By not maintaining facilities, the
district is faced with increased expenditures in later years as the facilities continue to deteriorate
and equipment continues to fail.
During site visits, the consulting team noted any number of problems in a district’s buildings and
structures. Problems noted include structural, life safety, and general safety items. A list of
maintenance items that should be addressed was developed based upon the walk-through and
interviews with district and school personnel. This list is summarized in Exhibit 4-26. An “X” in
a column means that the facility had a problem or need. Only those facilities visited by the
consulting team are listed.
10 Becker, T. J., (2011) What constitutes maintenance? Operational Guidelines for Educational Facilities:
Maintenance, second edition (July/August), pp.14-15.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-18
Exhibit 4-26
Summary of a Sample District’s Maintenance and Facility Needs
Building Name Site11
Life
Safety12 ADA13 HVAC14
Plumbing/
Water
Leaks15 Electrical16
Misc.
Finishes/
Other17
Administration Building X
High School X X X
Middle School X X
Primary School X X
Intermediate School X X X X X
ECC X X X
Event Center X X
Maintenance/Warehouse X X Source: OEQA Archived Exhibit
A properly staffed and well-organized maintenance department, with the tools necessary to
maintain equipment and facilities, should be able to effectively and efficiently maintain any
commercial facility. Inspection, documentation, and accurate record keeping are also essential to
facility maintenance. Numerous facility assessment tools are available to aid the maintenance
staff with inspecting and documenting deficiencies. A safe school checklist can be found at
http://www.ncef.org/content/safe-schools-0.
RECOMMENDATION
Conduct an inspection of all facilities, document all deficiencies, and correct them.
The maintenance director should conduct a complete facility inspection, documenting each
general safety, life safety, and facility problem. Each problem should be prioritized as:
1 – life safety;
2 – general safety;
3 – facility urgent; and
4 – facility routine.
11 Site refers to degraded conditions of the land on which the district buildings are situated 12 Life Safety refers to maintenance conditions that do not conform with the Life Safety Code (NFPA 110) 13 ADA refers to conditions that do not conform with the accessibility code 14 HVAC refers to issues with heating, ventilation, or air-conditioning systems 15 Plumbing/Water Leaks refers to plumbing problems or water leaks, which could come from plumbing or roofing
systems 16 Electrical refers to issues that do not conform with the National Electric Code 17 Misc. Finishes/Other refers to wall systems, flooring systems or roofing systems that exhibit conditions that
should be corrected
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-19
Problems should then be categorized as:
1 – in-house capable;
2 – contractor assist; and
3 – bond fund required.
Once all problems have been prioritized and categorized, work should begin on correcting
deficiencies, with life safety – in-house capable and contractor assist coming first, followed by
general safety – in-house capable and contractor assist coming second. The safety of building
occupants must always be the first concern.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
Custodial Operations
Safe, clean, and sanitary facilities are essential elements of the education environment. School
systems across the United States use different means to address these elements. Typically, school
boards either contract out (outsource) custodial services or organize a comprehensive in-house
program with staff to provide custodial services. Personnel will be employed by either the
outsourced company or the school board.
Management responsibility, if the program is in-house, may reside partially or wholly with the
central office, the individual school, or maintenance department. Determining the desired
structure usually involves several criteria, including minimizing costs to the school district,
improving services to schools, and reducing (or increasing) the span of control of district or
school-based administrators.
FINDING 4-8
Most Public Schools employ enough custodians, based upon national standards, to expect its
facilities to be cleaned to an acceptable level. However, some districts struggle to find and retain
quality custodial hires and may operate below appropriate standard levels.
Studies conducted by APPA demonstrate that one custodian should be capable of cleaning
between 20,000 and 30,000 square feet of school facilities to achieve level 2 or level 3 standard
of cleanliness, respectively. The levels of cleanliness in the APPA standard are shown in Exhibit
4-33.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-20
Exhibit 4-33
Appearance Factors and the Five Levels of Clean
Level 1— Orderly Spotlessness
Floors and base moldings shine and/or are bright and clean; colors are fresh. There is no buildup in corners
or along walls.
All vertical and horizontal surfaces have a freshly cleaned or polished appearance and have no
accumulation of dust, dirt, marks, streaks, smudges, or fingerprints.
Lights all work and fixtures are clean.
Washroom and shower fixtures and tile gleam, and are odor-free. Supplies are adequate.
Trash containers and pencil sharpeners hold only daily waste, are clean and odor-free.
Level 2 — Ordinary Tidiness
Floors and base moldings shine and/or are bright and clean. There is no buildup in corners or along walls,
but there can be up to two days’ worth of dust, dirt, stains, or streaks.
All vertical and horizontal surfaces are clean, but marks, dust, smudges, and fingerprints are noticeable
upon close observation. Lights all work and fixtures are clean.
Washroom and shower fixtures and tile gleam, and are odor-free. Supplies are adequate.
Trash containers and pencil sharpeners hold only daily waste, are clean and odor-free.
Level 3 — Casual Inattention
Floors are swept or vacuumed clean, but upon close observation there can be stains. A buildup of dirt
and/or floor finish in corners and along walls can be seen.
There are dull spots and/or matted carpet in walking lanes. There are streaks or splashes on base molding.
All vertical and horizontal surfaces have obvious dust, dirt, marks, smudges, and fingerprints. Lamps all
work and fixtures are clean.
Trash containers and pencil sharpeners hold only daily waste, are clean and odor-free.
Level 4 — Moderate Dinginess
Floors are swept or vacuumed clean, but are dull, dingy, and stained. There is an obvious buildup of dirt
and/or floor finish in corners and along walls.
There is a dull path and/or obviously matted carpet in the walking lanes. Base molding is dull and dingy
with streaks or splashes.
All vertical and horizontal surfaces have conspicuous dust, dirt, smudges, fingerprints, and marks.
Lamp fixtures are dirty and some (up to 5 percent) lamps are burned out.
Trash containers and pencil sharpeners have old trash and shavings. They are stained and marked.
Trash containers smell sour.
Level 5 — Unkempt Neglect
Floors and carpets are dull, dirty, dingy, scuffed, and/or matted. There is a conspicuous buildup of old dirt
and/or floor finish in corners and along walls. Base molding is dirty, stained, and streaked. Gum, stains,
dirt, dust balls, and trash are broadcast.
All vertical and horizontal surfaces have major accumulations of dust, dirt, smudges, and fingerprints, all
of which will be difficult to remove. Lack of attention is obvious.
Light fixtures are dirty with dust balls and flies. Many lamps (more than 5 percent) are burned out.
Trash containers and pencil sharpeners overflow. They are stained and marked. Trash containers smell
sour.
Source: Fichter, G., (2011). Maintenance of buildings, operational guidelines for educational facilities: Custodial.
APPA, third edition, pp. 72-73.
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-21
A district with a student enrollment of 1,700 and has 347,992 square feet of facilities should
expect to have approximately 17 custodians to keep a ‘Level 2 Clean’ when applying the APPA
standards of cleanliness. Exhibit 4-41, which shows a sample district’s schools’ staffing
compared to a standards-based recommendation of 23,000 square feet per custodian.
Exhibit 2-41
Comparison of Current Custodial Staffing to Proposed Standard
Building Facility
Square Feet
Staffing
Assignments
23,000 Ft²/
Custodian
Standard
Recommended
Staffing
Adjustments
High School A 261,443 11.5 11.5 0
High School B 250,668 11.0 11.0 0
Middle School A 193,000 9.0 8.0 (1)
Middle School B 181,808 8.0 8.0 0
Elementary School A 177,906 7.0 8.0 1
Elementary School B 210,000 7.0 9.0 2
Total 1,274,825 53.5 55.5 2 Source: OEQA Archived Exhibit
In one district the consulting team observed cleanliness in most areas of the district’s facilities as
per APPA standards. Classrooms typically were at a level 3 standard of cleanliness and school
hallways were near a level 3. The cafeterias and kitchen areas were between a level 3 and level 2
standard of cleanliness. The administration building was at a level 2 standard of cleanliness.
However, perception of cleanliness varied among survey respondents.
Surveys conducted by the consulting team for this district revealed that 39 percent of high school
students agreed that the high school was clean, but 39 percent of high school students did not
agree. Seventy-three percent of parents agreed that their child’s school was clean, and 71 percent
of staff agreed that the district’s facilities were kept clean (Exhibit 4-34).
Exhibit 4-34
Sample Survey Responses Regarding School Facility Maintenance
Survey
Group Survey Statement Agree
No
Opinion Disagree
Students My school is clean. 39% 21% 39%
Parents My child’s school is clean. 73% 6% 8%
Staff The district’s facilities are
kept clean. 71% 8% 14%
Source: OEQA Sample of an Archived Survey
RECOMMENDATION
Employ the proper number of custodians to maintain school facilities at an acceptable level
of cleanliness based upon national standards.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-22
The consulting team found that when buildings were being maintained in an acceptable manner,
as evidenced by district surveys and consulting team observations that 23,000 square feet per
custodian was sufficient. This standard could meet cleaning expectations of any district as
evidenced by satisfaction levels indicated from sample surveys.
FINDING 4-9
There are no formal training programs for the maintenance and custodial personnel in some
districts. This could lead to improper use of tools, equipment, and cleaning chemicals and also
compromise employee safety.
Maintenance and custodial personnel are eligible to attend certain annually scheduled
professional development programs at the beginning of the school year. However, these
programs are general in nature and are not focused specifically around these support positions.
Employees are hired, in part, based on their existing skills or they learn from their fellow
employees on the job. Tools, equipment, and cleaning chemicals used by these employees can be
costly and dangerous. Proper training is essential to safety and cost savings.
An in-house training program can be used to train staff on such topics as certification for
maintenance trades personnel, OSHA certification, safety, cleaning techniques, work efficiency,
custodial cleaning standards, etc. By conducting training in-house, the costs of travel, meals,
lodging, and program registration would be avoided, and the cost of the hours not worked due to
training would be kept at a minimum. Purchase or rental of training films and slide presentations,
as well as fees for occasional outside trainers, may reduce the cost savings, but the total savings
will be significant enough within only a few years to pay for implementation of such a program.
RECOMMENDATION
Conduct regular in-house formal training for maintenance and custodial staff
by bringing training materials and possibly trainers to the district.
Maintenance and custodial training programs are available from a variety of private and public
sources. The following sample from the Internet illustrates the many different types of training
materials available:
http://www.schoolfacilities.com/ - This site features articles, products, and training
program listings, plus an eNewsletter that covers current trends in building maintenance,
school construction, school design, indoor air quality issues, etc.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/maintenance/chapter1.asp - This site displays a complete
Planning Guide for Maintaining School Facilities. It is available free of charge.
http://www.trainingservicesassoc.com/coursedesc.htm - Training Services Association
provides in-house training courses, including courses on facilities maintenance.
http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/custodial_staffing.cfm - This Web site of the National
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-23
Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) contains a resource list of links, books,
and journal articles on custodial staffing guidelines, needs assessment, training, and
procedures for K-12 school buildings and colleges.
http://www.trainingservicesassoc.com/coursedesc.htm - Training Services Association
provides in-house training courses, including custodial services.
http://www.cleaningconsultants.com/ - This site contains an on-line store containing
books, videos, reports, and software titles specifically for the cleaning industry. These
products contain information on subjects such as basic cleaning, housekeeping, window
washing, janitorial services, custodial maintenance, bidding, estimating, etc.
The above training program sources are listed as examples. The district should conduct his own
search by asking for information from his peers and from the Internet. It is important to know
that many maintenance and custodial training programs sponsored by product manufacturers or
service providers may be biased in the direction of these products or services and do not provide
a balanced, professional view of the role of these services in facilities operations. Unbiased and
non-proprietary training programs usually require a nominal fee, as they are not underwritten by
an industry or corporation.
FISCAL IMPACT
The costs of this recommendation include the cost of renting or buying training materials, and
the occasional outside trainer or other specific training opportunities that may be applicable.
While some materials and trainers are offered at no charge, such offers are often laced with
heavy bias toward a particular product or service and should be used with caution.
Districts should investigate options to coordinate the training with other nearby public school
districts to potentially share in the cost to conduct such programs. A budget amount should be
established utilizing existing funds based upon the results of the training options developed.
FINDING 4-10
It was noted that some districts did not have or did not follow board policy as it relates to rental
fees and community usage of their facilities. As a result, districts were incurring additional costs
and potential damage to facilities because of no on-site supervision of such events by the district.
There were no basic charges or cost reimbursements for the use of equipment and
equipment operators stipulated in the board policy. This results in additional wear and tear on
school district property that is not reimbursed to the district resulting in increased costs. Some
districts had adopted rental fee schedules, but many were outdated, including one that was
created in 1990. In some cases there was no evidence that the fee rates had been increased to
offset continual increased cost for utility usage related to lighting, heating, and air-conditioning,
for the rented space and/or building.
One district example, the director of Athletics was responsible for managing the use of school
property by any outside groups by opening and closing the facility, but yet, was not scheduling a
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-24
custodian to be on the school grounds as stipulated in that district’s board policy. This situation
resulted in no supervision by a school district employee thereby increasing the risk of additional
costs to the district, due to possible damage to the facilities and improper operation of school
property made available for use by the outside group. The Athletic Director indicated to the
review team that the district charged $250 for the rental of the middle school gymnasium and
$350 for the rental of the main gymnasium which was not consistent with rental fees stipulated in
the board policy.
RECOMMENDATION
Districts should reevaluate the actual cost to operate buildings; develop a new rental fee
schedule based upon such cost data; recommend revisions to the board policy for approval
and adoption by the Board of Education; and comply with such adopted policy.
Superintendents should review the utility costs expended for each facility for the last fiscal year
and also determine the total number of hours the facility was open during the fiscal year to
calculate the average cost per hour for the utility costs for the building. In addition, the local
utility companies should be contacted to obtain information about any proposed rate
modifications that may be projected for the upcoming fiscal year. Based upon this data, a new
projected hourly rate can be calculated for the new fiscal year that should be used for the utility
cost reimbursement for rentals of any district facility.
Districts should always utilize existing custodial personnel to be present when facilities are being
rented and used by outside groups. The district should utilize the highest hourly rate currently
being paid to any custodian and calculate the overtime rate as the basis for charging an hourly
rate for any facility rentals. Most districts will also establish a policy when security services
would also be needed to be present during certain types of facility rentals. The cost of this
service should also be added to the rental rate reimbursement calculation.
The superintendent should revise the existing policy to incorporate the new rental rate structure.
In addition, a more formal rental agreement should be developed by the district’s legal counsel
so the district will be better protected to address the risks associated to the use of the facilities by
outside groups such as damage reimbursement, deposits, payment terms and conditions, etc, that
are deemed appropriate. This new revised hourly rental rate structure and policy revisions should
be submitted to the Board of Education for approval and adoption as board policy.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
C. ENERGY MANAGEMENT
General energy consumption can be one of the most expensive operational areas for a school
district. Due to the large infrastructure required for education, schools use large quantities of
electricity, water, and natural gas. Implementing an energy management program can assist in
reducing a school district’s operational costs associated with otherwise excessive utility use.
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-25
Energy management programs can be implemented in a wide variety of ways, from hiring full-
time energy managers to sending out simple shut-down reminders before school dismissal or
before a break. One of the most beneficial practices of energy management is the recording of
monthly utility bills and the communication of usage and costs to the general staff. Tracking
utility use can give a bird’s eye view of how much each school is spending on its utilities
compared to other schools. The energy manager can then target the most expensive utilities and
work to reduce consumption. This communication helps foster awareness of the expenses of
running a school and brings attention to energy conservation measures by both students and staff.
The American Society for Hospital Engineers (ASHE) has developed a list of ten components
necessary for a successful energy management program. Although this list was originally
intended for hospital organizations, they are applicable to all energy management programs. As
recommended by ASHE, the items to consider are:
1. Measure/benchmark current energy consumption.
2. Develop an energy use profile.
3. Complete a greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
4. Build teams, get leadership support, and assign dedicated resources.
5. Set targets/goals.
6. Develop strategic action plans for improvement.
7. Consider adopting a strategic energy management plan.
8. Implement projects.
9. Track, measure, and report.
10. Train, educate, and celebrate.
The Association of School Business Officials (ASBO), in their publication Planning Guide for
Maintaining School Facilities18 suggests that the following guidelines will help a school system
accomplish more efficient energy management:
1. Establish an energy policy with specific goals and objectives.
2. Assign someone to be responsible for the district’s energy management program and give
this energy manager access to top-level administrators.
3. Monitor each building’s energy use.
4. Conduct energy audits in all buildings to identify energy inefficient units.
18 Available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003347.pdf
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-26
5. Institute performance contracting (i.e., contracts requiring desired results rather than simply a
list of needed products) when replacing older, energy inefficient equipment.
6. Reward employees of schools or buildings that decrease their energy use.
7. Install energy efficient equipment including power factor correction units, electronic ballasts,
high-efficiency lamps, set-back thermostats, and variable-speed drives for large motors and
pumps.
8. Install motion detectors that turn lights on when a room is occupied and off when the room is
unoccupied.
Additional information about energy management can be found through the National
Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities’ Energy Page19 which provides a list of links, books,
and journal articles on various methods of heating, cooling, and maintaining new and retrofitted
K-12 school buildings and grounds.
FINDING 4-11
Districts have not formally adopted a board policy for an energy management program (EMP).
Without such a program, such districts run the risk of costly energy inefficiencies, taking
unnecessary budget dollars from instructional activities.
Per the review team’s interview with staff, the teachers are encouraged to monitor the thermostat
temperature settings; however, no formal plan is in place for recommended procedures for
temperature settings for implementation at district facilities. In addition, there is no central
control system to monitor or override these classroom temperature settings since the thermostats
installed are not programmable.
The U.S. Department of Energy determined that at least 25 percent of all energy consumed in a
school facility is due to energy inefficiency. This inefficiency can be caused by:
Dry transformers;
Location of light switches;
Hallway lights;
Plug loads and personal appliances; and
Phantom loads.
EMP's are an effective method for reducing the inefficiencies associated with energy use.
An EMP should contain the following elements:
Based on the board policy, a goal for the program and establish objectives;
19 Available at http://www.ncef.org/search/node/energy%20management
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-27
A responsible individual and means of implementing the program - an energy
management team;
A checklist for administrators, instructional personnel, and operators;
Energy education materials for use by instructional personnel;
Energy awareness training for all school personnel; and
An evaluation instrument and means of celebrating success.
As an example, an Independent School District in Texas successfully adopted an
energy management plan in November 2007. The EMP states at the outset:
Energy conservation is first a people concern, and then a technical concern.
Administrators should take a serious look at how their building operates in terms of
normal daily routines and activities. By designating thermostat settings and reducing
equipment run time and lighting operations, all building administrators will be able to
significantly contribute to the district program.
The plan’s components are shown in Exhibit 4-11.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-28
Exhibit 4-11
Sample School District Energy Management Plan Components
Several school districts around the country use several techniques to keep energy costs down.
The following are some examples of these conservation efforts:
entering monthly energy bill data into a spreadsheet to maintain a history of expenditures and
to use in detecting problems;
performing building checks to see if lights are turned off, doors are closed, water faucets are
not dripping, etc.;
leaving “OOPS” notes reminding teachers or staff of the proper procedure, such as those
shown in if problems are found during building checks;
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-29
establishing set points for thermostats at 76 degrees in the summer and 69 degrees in the
winter;
purchasing set-back thermostats and programming them to turn down cooling or heating in
advance of daily adjournment and over the weekends;
setting water heaters or boilers at a maximum temperature of 140 degrees, except in areas
requiring higher temperatures for sanitation purposes, such as kitchens; and
replacing worn out and damaged equipment, windows, and lighting, as needed, with more
energy efficient units.
RECOMMENDATION
Develop a formal energy management program to be adopted by the district’s Board of
Education.
Goals should be specific, realistic, and achievable, such as:
Reduce energy consumption in each school facility by at least a (specified percentage) at
the end of the (specific) school year and maintain the achieved level of consumption for
five years after attainment;
Establish energy awareness training for all school employees; and
Obtain and make available energy education materials for all teachers for incorporation
into their subject matter.
In developing this program, districts should adopt a set of energy guidelines for use in the design
and construction of new and renovation of existing school facilities. Checklists should be
developed for all segments of the school community for use on daily energy conservation actions
and for special circumstances to control energy usage. Districts should also develop energy
awareness training to support stated objectives. As the results of energy audits and
facility/systems inspections, develop an "energy conservation project list" in conjunction with
planned capital projects.
Other things to consider in developing the EMP include:
Developing a means to evaluate the success of the overall program;
Developing a means for recognition of success in the program both internally and
externally;
Informing the community that the EMP exists, what has been accomplished, and how
they can reduce their own energy bills; and
Regularly updating the program to reflect changing conditions, successes, and/or failures.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-30
The maintenance director should inspect each space within each building, and generate a list of
energy deficiencies which can then be integrated into a master maintenance list. Goals for an
energy management program, as with any program, should be specific, realistic, and achievable:
reducing energy consumption in each school facility by at least (a specified percentage) at the
end of the (specific) school year and maintaining the achieved level of consumption for five
years after attainment;
establishing energy awareness training for all school employees; and
obtaining and making available energy education materials, such as those offered by the U.S.
Department of Energy,20 for all teachers for incorporation into their subject matter.
Districts should also develop energy awareness training to support stated objectives. Because of
energy audits and facility/systems inspections, districts should develop an “energy conservation
project list” in conjunction with planned capital projects. Other things to consider in developing
the EMP are as follows:
developing a means to evaluate the success of the overall program;
developing a means for recognition of success in the program both internally and externally;
informing the community that the EMP exists, what has been accomplished, and how they
can reduce their own energy bills; and
regularly updating the program to reflect changing conditions, successes, and/or failures.
Typical areas on which most districts can concentrate:
Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFL) or light emitting diode (LED)
bulbs. CFLs consume approximately one-third the energy of an incandescent bulb. LEDs
consume even less.
Determine whether personal electrical devices (refrigerators, coffee makers, microwaves
ovens, portable heaters, etc.) are appropriate in the district and either charge staff an
appropriate fee for using the district’s electrical power or remove personal electrical devices.
(Note: all electrical devices, particularly refrigerators, add to the heat load within a space,
thus requiring additional cooling in the warmer months.)
Install low-flow aerators in handwashing sinks to minimize water use. Low-flow is defined
as 0.5 to 1.0 gallons per minute (gpm). Currently some handwashing sinks observed by the
consulting team either have no flow control (no aerator) or have aerators used in residential
application (2.2 gpm standard). The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is
recommending that commercial facilities install a super low-flow aerator of just 0.5 – 1.0
20 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/education/lessonplans/
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-31
gpm to maximize water savings. Low-flow aerators are typically self-locking, and require a
special wrench to remove, thus providing security from tampering.
Retrofit T-12 light fixtures with energy-saving T-8 or T-5 bulbs and ballasts, or the new LED
light systems. T-12 fluorescent tubes are no longer being manufactured and the fixtures
should either be replaced or modified to accept the T-8 or T-5 bulbs. T-5 and T-8 lights offer
several advantages, including that they consume less than 33 percent of the energy consumed
by a T-12 light, with the same lumen output. T-5 and T-8 lights will last approximately 20
percent longer. T-5 and T-8 lights are now considered the industry standard in new
construction and retrofit applications. Also available are LED replacement kits that the
maintenance department technicians can install. They do not require a ballast and wire
directly into the school’s electrical supply.21
Program replacement of single pane windows with efficient double pane thermal windows.
Replace deteriorated insulation on water heater piping or install on piping where none
currently exists.
Consider building a vestibule at the front entrances of the schools that don’t currently have
one. When properly used, vestibules significantly reduce heat gain/loss which equates to
energy savings. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers has developed standards for heating, ventilation, and the air conditioning of
buildings (ASHRAE 90). This has caused California to adopt the following code concerning
vestibules:
Vestibule doors at a building entrance would reduce the flow of unconditioned air into
the conditioned space. Additionally, air trapped inside the vestibule would act as a buffer
to the transfer of heat through the vestibule, thereby increasing the thermal resistance of
the passageway.22
Replace incandescent exit signs with LED exit signs (Exhibit 4-51). New LED exit signs are
available with a life expectancy of ten years. Each exit sign replaced will pay for itself in
energy savings in less than four years.
FISCAL IMPACT
The exact fiscal impact of this recommendation would depend upon the specific energy
management measures implemented. Estimates of the payback period and actual savings include
the following:
Incandescent bulbs. Replacing incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL)
will achieve energy savings of up to 35 percent over current consumption. Replacing
incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs, though higher in initial cost, can save up to 70 percent
21 The company LiteTronics offers retrofit products that can be seen at http://www.litetronics.com/new-products/led-
retrofit-2x2-and-2x4-2-tube.html 22 2008 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards, found at
http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/2008standards/index.html
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-32
over current energy consumption. The consulting team calculated that replacing 50
incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents would cost $125 the first year and would save
$554 each subsequent year.
Low-flow Aerators. In a typical school environment, a handwashing lavatory is used 25
times per day. Each handwashing lasts approximately 15-20 seconds. If one assumes a
modest 15-second encounter, then each handwashing event at a lavatory with a 2.2 gpm
aerator consumes 0.55 gallons of water. Multiplying this by the 25 encounters per day, one
finds consumption of 13.75 gallons of water per day per lavatory. At a calculated cost of
$0.0083 per gallon23, the cost of handwashing in one sink is $0.073 per day. If there are 150
sinks within the district then the spending would be $10.93 per day. Monthly, this equates to
$218.60. By reducing the flow rate of the handwashing lavatories from 2.2 gpm to 1.0 gpm,
the cost would be reduced to $99.36, a savings of $119.24 per month, or more than $1,190
per year. If the aerators were replaced with super low-flow 0.5 gpm aerators, the savings
would be even greater. Each replacement aerator costs approximately $1.50. Replacing 150
aerators would cost $225 initially.
T-5 or T-8 Light Fixtures. Each existing four-bulb T-12 light fixture that is retrofitted with
a new energy efficient T-8 ballast and three bulbs will consume one-third less energy while
providing the same amount of light. The payback period for replacement will be
approximately four to five years. T-5 light fixtures may also be considered for additional
energy savings. The consulting team calculated that replacing 25 four-bulb T-12 fixtures
with 25 four-bulb T-8 fixtures would initially cost $1,050.00, with annual energy savings of
$327.50.
Double-pane windows. The cost of each double-pane window that is properly caulked will
be between $150 and $1,800 depending on the size of the window and the cost of labor to re-
caulk or replace the window. As an example, replacing eight windows with 2’ x 4’ double-
pane windows would cost $528 per window, or $4,224 for all eight. The savings to be
realized will be in reduced costs of cooling in the summer and heating during the winter.
Vestibules. The high school has a vestibule at the front entrance. The middle school, primary
school and intermediate school do not have vestibules at their main entrances. The cost of
each vestibule will depend upon the materials specified. The savings to be realized will be in
reduced costs in cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Assuming the use of
similar materials at each school, with a steel full vision six-foot-wide double-door system
with hardware, the cost per RSMeans “Square Foot Costs”, 2015, would be $10,400 on
average for each of the three enclosures, or a total of $31,200 if installed in one year.
LED or LEC exit signs. Replacing existing incandescent lit exit signs with the new energy-
saving LED (light emitting diode) or LEC (light emitting capacitor) exit signs will achieve a
payback period in energy savings in approximately two years. But the big advantage of LED
and LEC over incandescent is that they will operate for ten years without maintenance and
without having to replace bulbs. They only require mandatory monthly and annual tests. One
23 Per gallon cost of water and sewer for the high school is $0.0083 based on CPS invoices and payments.
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-33
LEC exit light retrofit kit costs approximately $28 on Amazon24, fits most incandescent exit
light fixtures and uses less than 1/5th watt of energy. A new LED exit light costs
approximately $18 on Amazon25. Compared to an incandescent exit sign which consumes 40
watts of power, an LED exit sign consumes 2 watts. Replacing 100 incandescent exit signs
with LED exit signs would cost approximately $1,800, with an energy savings of $2,663
each year.
Waterless Urinals. Replacing water-consuming urinals with new waterless urinals saves
money in three ways: eliminates cost of water to flush the urinal, eliminates the cost of the
sewer (based upon water used), and eliminates most maintenance costs in repair/replacement
of flush-valves and other plumbing parts. The consulting team calculated by using the
Purleve Waterless Urinal Cost Saving Calculator26, that with an initial outlay of $13,500 to
install 45 Enviroseal System waterless urinals, a minimal net savings of $12,388 per year
could be realized. The payback time for these 45 urinals is 13.1 months. (Note: prior to
installing waterless urinals, the district should contact the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)
to inquire whether their use is approved. Some AHJs require urinals to have plumbed water.)
Recommendation 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-2023 2023-24
Replace incandescent
bulbs with compact
fluorescent bulbs
$429 $554 $554 $554 $554
Replace 150 aerators
in handwashing sinks $965 $1,190 $1,190 $1,190 $1,190
Replace T-12 lights
with T-8 lights ($723) $327 $327 $327 $327
Install eight 2’ X 4’
double insulated
aluminum frame
windows
($4,224) $? $? $? $?
Install three vestibules
at school building
entrances
($31,200) $? $? $? $?
Replace 100
incandescent exit
signs with LED exit
signs
$863 $2,663 $2,663 $2,663 $2,663
Install 45 Enviroseal
waterless urinals $4,288 $12,388 $12,388 $12,388 $12,388
Total ($29,602) $17,122+ $17,122+ $17,122+ $17,122+
24 http://www.amazon.com/TCP-20714-Light-Retrofit-Adaptors/dp/B001DMMK8O 25 http://www.amazon.com/eTopLighting-Emergency-Lighting-Battery-Back-
up/dp/B005DN7DB8/ref=pd_sim_60_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=31OOvbn3aCL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR1
60%2C160_&refRID=1G9CN7WSDN2HRNQ3SQ85 26 http://www.purleve.com/product-categories/enviroseal-flex-system/no-water-urinals-calculator/
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-34
FINDING 4-12
Some districts do not have a computerized energy cost system to track utility usage and costs
along with the performance of utility bill audits. As a result, the district may not be able to detect
errors or increased consumption in billings from utility companies based upon adopted utility
rate schedules.
These districts do not keep track of energy consumption or cost for water, gas, and electricity on
a per campus and building basis. Tracking monthly utility usage and cost data at each meter at
each building at each campus is very important as it can assist in evaluating where
problems may exist in terms of consumption, such as an indication of a water main break, a
HVAC roof top unit set manually to run 24 hours a day, or a malfunctioning meter.
There are energy accounting software programs on the market such as School Dude’s
UtilityDirect27 that allow districts to track their utility costs by meter, by building, by campus.
In most cases, these programs perform a utility bill audit function that compares the data that has
been entered into the program to the utility company rate schedule and can flag the bill if there is
an error in the calculation. This function alone can help uncover billing errors that would
normally not be detected which can easily cover the cost of the software program.
RECOMMENDATION
Districts should purchase one of the available energy accounting software programs.
FISCAL IMPACT
The software manufacturer has published results from a typical cost/benefit
analysis that results in reported savings of at least 5% of a district’s annual utility expenditures.
D. SAFETY AND SECURITY
Today, more than ever, school districts are expected to provide a safe and secure environment for
their students and staff. While districts are largely insulated from violent crime, it is incidents of
violence at schools that draw national attention. School districts must take proactive measures in
safety and security even in incident-free schools. Students, teachers, and other district employees
deserve a safe school environment in which to work and learn.
In 2003, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5 (HSPD-5) initiated the development of a
National Incident Management System (NIMS) and requires its use by public sector agencies,
including school districts. The intent of this system is to provide a common template and
language for responding organizations to work together in preventing, preparing for, responding
to, and recovering from incidents. As noted by FEMA, NIMS represents “a core set of doctrine,
27 http://www.schooldude.com/products/utility-direct/
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-35
concepts, principles, terminology, and organizational processes that enables effective, efficient,
and collaborative incident management.”
NIMS emphasizes that true preparedness requires a commitment to continuous review and
improvement. Most districts understand the continuous nature of emergency management as well
as the four phases that comprise the process circle (Exhibit 4-52).
Exhibit 4-52
Continuous Process of Emergency Management
Source: The Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools’ Practical information on
Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities, January 2007
The Oklahoma Commission on School Safety, which was created in response to the Newtown
killings, submitted several recommendations to the Oklahoma Legislature. Based upon the
commission’s recommendations, the Legislature passed four new laws. Among other things, the
laws require schools to update their safety plans every year and have frequent “intruder drills,”
with students taking cover while the doors are locked and the windows covered. The state also
created a new Oklahoma School Security Institute to help schools keep their policies up to date.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (ODEM) reports that the state has had an
increased number of earthquakes in recent years. Actions that the district can take regarding
earthquakes, and teach to students, staff, and visitors are provided on the ODEM website.28
One element of safety that created much discussions throughout the state in 2013-14 was the lack
of shelters in many districts. This topic of safety resulted from the May 20th tornado in Moore,
Oklahoma that destroyed two elementary schools and killed seven students attending one of
those schools. Since 1974, there have also been multiple tornadoes of varying strength that have
touched down in many communities across the state.
28 https://www.ok.gov/OEM/Programs_&_Services/Preparedness/Preparedness_-_Earthquakes.html
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-36
As reported in surveys, students and parents generally agree that facilities are secure from
unwanted visitors and that the children feel safe. Of the sampled surveys less than half of the
staff agreed that their district’s facilities were secure from unwanted visitors. (Exhibit 4-54).
The staff’s perceptions were corroborated by the consulting team, which observed that most
school buildings in the sample districts lacked security checks for visitors entering the buildings.
Exhibit 4-54
Sampling of Survey Responses Regarding Safety in the Schools
Survey
Group Survey Statement Agree
No
Opinion Disagree
Parents My child feels safe and
secure at school. 75% 18% 7%
Parents
The school buildings and
grounds are safe and
secure.
74% 11% 15%
Students I feel safe and secure at
school. 68% 10% 22%
Students
The school buildings and
grounds are safe and
secure.
63% 13% 24%
Staff
The district’s facilities
are secure from
unwanted visitors.
48% 16% 35%
Source: OEQA Sampling of Archived District Surveys
All districts have an anti-bullying policy, that is usually contained in the district policy manual.
The policy cites the School Safety and Bullying Prevention Act, 70 OKLA. STAT. § 24-100.2 et
seq., with a positive statement that “the district intends to comply with the act and expects
students to refrain from bullying.”
A sampling of archived surveys administered to parents and students (Exhibit 4-55), indicated
that less than half of parents and 43 percent of students agreed that bullying was a problem in
their district. In districts that had a higher percentage of parents who agreed that bullying at
school was a problem, also, provided more comments, in the open response as opposed to
districts who had a lower percentage of parents who agreed that bullying was a problem.
Exhibit 4-55
Sampling of Survey Responses Regarding Bullying
Survey
Group Survey Statement Agree
No
Opinion Disagree
Parents Bullying is a problem in
this district. 36% 25% 39%
Students Bullying is a problem in
this district. 43% 18% 39%
Source: OEQA Sampling of Archived District Surveys
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-37
FINDING 4-13
Schools have safety problems of several types. During site visits, consulting teams have
reviewed all districts’ facilities for life safety, ADA, and general safety problems. A
comprehensive list of safety deficiencies can be found in Appendix H. Examples that the
consulting team found include:
Several areas in the facilities do not have exit signs, and in other areas, the exit signs and/or
the egress lights do not work.
Several electrical closets throughout the facilities have materials stored directly in front of
electrical circuit distribution panels.
Fire extinguishers were found sitting on the floor during the site visit. Extinguishers are
required to be mounted at least four inches above the finished floor to protect the
extinguisher in case of flooding.
Several closets and other spaces within the schools have unprotected incandescent bulbs
installed. If an incandescent bulb is broken, the hot filament can spark a fire. Incandescent
bulbs are not energy efficient, and if used, should always have some sort of a protective
shield.
Fire extinguisher cabinets in the high school are not labeled as such.
One fire door leaf in the intermediate school has a slide bolt installed at the top of the door.
All fire doors tested by the consulting team and the principal in the high school, and all fire
doors in the middle school, failed to close and/or latch properly.
A widely-used facilities inspection tool is the Council of Educational Facility Planners
International (CEFPI) Guide for School Facility Appraisal, 1998 Edition. Other facilities
inspection guides are available, including the American Clearinghouse on Educational Facilities’
Educational Facilities Vulnerability/Hazard Assessment Checklist that was published in 2011. 29
RECOMMENDATION
Conduct a safety inspection of all facilities, document all deficiencies, and correct
deficiencies quickly.
Superintendents should direct maintenance directors to conduct a safety inspection of all
facilities, document all safety deficiencies, develop a prioritized work list, and correct safety
deficiencies quickly. Beginning with the observations in a district’s performance review report,
districts’ staff should record each deficiency that requires repair or remedy, provide for
documented follow-up to correct deficiencies, and report on work progress. As part of the
process, each deficiency should be categorized as to whether it can be corrected with existing
29 http://online.tarleton.edu/ACEF/VulnerabilityHazardChecklist/index.html#/2/
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-38
funds or requires additional monies, whether the deficiency presents a life/safety hazard (and
therefore should be corrected immediately), and whether delaying correction may result in
greater expense later.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING 4-14
Life safety components of district facilities are not being inspected in accordance with state
codes. During the site visit the consulting team observed school personnel who were asked to
perform monthly and annual inspections and tests of life safety components. In every case, the
inspection or test was not conducted in accordance with the life safety codes.
Districts’ Maintenance-Custodial Procedures manual requires custodians to test fire
extinguishers monthly and provides the steps necessary for a complete inspection, with one
exception: the heft test. Some of the custodial staff in the schools are conducting fire
extinguisher inspections and signing the attached card; however, with the heft test being left out
of the procedure’s manual, custodians fail to perform the test and so, regrettably, none of the
monthly inspections have been performed in accordance with the standard.
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) regulation 10, 6.2.2 states that “…inspection… of
fire extinguishers shall include a check of at least the following items: …fullness determined by
weighing or hefting for self-expelling-type extinguishers…” Additionally, the consulting team
found numerous fire extinguishers that either had an outdated tag, demonstrating that it had not
received the required annual inspection by the contractor, or was missing monthly inspection
certifications by the custodians.
Most generally, Maintenance-Custodial Procedures manuals also require custodians to inspect
emergency lighting monthly. The document contains the NFPA regulation 101, 7.9.3
requirement that the monthly test to be conducted “…for not less than 30 seconds…” But when
the inspection was being conducted by the custodians, in every case, the test was performed for
only one or two seconds. When questioned on the proper length of time for the test, the
custodians answered that the test should last three or four seconds to show that the battery
worked.
The Maintenance-Custodial Procedures manual does not mention any tests for fire door
assemblies. NFPA regulation 80, 5.2.1 states that “Fire door assemblies shall be inspected
and tested not less than annually, and a written record of the inspection shall be signed and kept
for inspection by the AHJ [Authority Having Jurisdiction]”. During site visits, numerous fire
doors were tested in various schools, and a majority of the systems failed the test by either not
closing as required or not latching as required.
Many districts maintain a comprehensive list of every life safety device, including information
such as type of device, date of installation, date of last inspection, specific location of the device,
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-39
and any other appropriate comments. Some districts establish a numbering system such as FE-
105-1 (Fire extinguisher – site 105 – unit #1) so that work orders and other discussions about that
specific device can be facilitated. The complete information is then loaded into either an Excel
spreadsheet or a district’s computerized maintenance management system for automatic
preventive maintenance work order generation. Fire doors are required to be tested annually.
However, many districts, because of the heavy use (and abuse) of fire doors in schools, require
custodian or maintenance personnel to test the doors on a monthly basis.
RECOMMENDATION
Expand the program of life safety training, inspections, and proper documentation of those
inspections, to include all steps in the inspection, and to increase the periodicity of fire door
inspections.
A district’s designated safety coordinator should inventory all life safety devices in the district.
Create a labeling system for each type of device such as FE for fire extinguisher, FD for fire
door, EL for emergency lighting, and so forth. Enter complete information for each device into a
spreadsheet. Include in a Maintenance-Custodial Procedures manual the complete steps of a life
safety inspection. Train custodians on the correct procedure for a life safety inspection.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING 4-15
No one in the district is responsible for the following:
1. Ensuring that life safety equipment such as fire doors, fire and smoke boundaries, exit
lights, emergency egress lights, and fire extinguishers are tested and inspected in
accordance with national and international codes adopted by the state of Oklahoma
2. Ensuring safety training required by district policy, Oklahoma state rules and regulations,
OSHA, and other federal regulations is conducted and documented; and
3. Conducting general safety and life safety inspections of all district facilities on an
ongoing basis, and ensuring deficiencies noted are properly reported in the maintenance
work order system with follow-up as appropriate.
RECOMMENDATION
Appoint one individual as the district safety program manager.
A school safety coordinator or safety program manager is designated to specific duties and
responsibilities. Duties include all aspects of school safety: security of the facilities, workplace
safety for employees, OSHA requirements, life safety requirements, Emergency Planning and
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-40
Community Right-to-Know Act implementation, along with other federal, state and local rules
and regulations.
One person should be designated as safety program manager for the district. This position should
be dedicated solely to safety and should be full-time for larger districts. The district should
provide the incumbent with the OSHA, life safety, and other safety training necessary to
implement and coordinate a comprehensive district safety program.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING 4-16
During site visits, consulting teams found a variety of health and safety items that had expired in
addition to the wrong placements of safety items. Specific examples include the following:
expired bottles of water in eye wash stations,
Expired sterile bottled water in first aid kits for use in irrigating open wounds prior to
applying sterile gauzes or bandages.
Expired Saline solution (0.9 percent sodium chloride in sterile water) is found in first aid
kits and eye wash stations.
The small bottles of eye wash solution found in first aid kits and small eye wash stations
are for irrigating the eyes to remove grit that may have gotten into them. These bottles of
eye wash solution are not sufficient for cases when chemicals may have been splashed in
the eyes.
Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the district have outdated pads and weak or
outdated batteries.
Some AEDs reviewed by the consulting team had pediatric pads that were outdated, and,
when the wall mounted cabinets were opened, the batteries for the alarm failed to operate.
In one case, the internal battery for the AED itself was out of date and was holding only a
partial charge.
Several first aid boxes contained items that had expired.
Dated health and safety items should be replaced on or before the expiration date. Using outdated
health and safety items puts both the patient (staff, student, or visitor) and the district at risk in
the event of an undesirable outcome.
Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Many school districts have
purchased and installed Automated External Defibrillator (AED) kits as the only effective
treatment for restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest. AED kits contain
OSPR – Best Practices Facilities Use and Management
Page 4-41
both adult-sized and child/infant-sized electrode pads and batteries that have shelf lives. It is
important that they be maintained with up-to-date materials
RECOMMENDATION
Inspect all eyewash stations, first aid kits, and AED kits to remove out-of-date materials
and replace them with fresh materials. The safety program manager should ensure that
health and safety items that have expiration dates are contained in an inventory control
system that includes periodic inspections and replacement of expiring items.
Districts should develop a procedure of inventorying all first aid kits, eye wash stations (both
portable and plumbed), and AED kits. The inventory should include the type of equipment, a list
of contents and the expiration dates of all dated materials. This information should be entered
into the preventive maintenance database for scheduling of preventive maintenance service and
correcting any deficiencies that might be found. The database should include location of the
item, date installed, and expiration date which will provide a higher level of organization,
ensuring student and staff safety, as well as ensuring the district is compliant with safety
regulations. The safety program manager should enlist the help of the school safety committees
to monitor these items in their school and provide a clear method of reporting problems.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING 4-17
The effectiveness of many districts’ emergencies planning and response is not tested beyond fire,
tornado, and intruders. Without an effective multi-hazard emergency plan, the district weakens
its ability to manage real emergencies successfully, increasing the risk of personal injury and
property damage.
Even though the oversight responsibility of safety and security is assigned to a central office
administrator, assistance from campus personnel is required to achieve the overall safety and
security objectives.
Other characteristics also inhibit the effectiveness of their emergency planning and procedures.
The specific inhibiting characteristics include the following:
Staff lacks the specific training needed to improve security awareness, threat assessment,
all hazards emergency planning, mitigation, response, and recovery. Without this specific
training, the students, staff, and facilities are more vulnerable to the consequences of
natural, accidental, and created emergencies.
Districts do not test the effectiveness of their emergency planning and response beyond
fire and tornados.
Facilities Use and Management OSPR – Best Practices
Page 4-42
Without developing performance standards for all hazards emergency drills to include
conducting after-action reviews, developing corrective action plans based on the lessons learned
from the drills, and hosting joint exercises with city and county emergency management
personnel and first responders, the district’s ability to manage real emergencies of varying type
and scope successfully greatly decreases.
RECOMMENDATION
All district personnel should receive emergency management training and the emergency
response plan should be routinely exercised beyond fire and tornado drills.
The superintendent should ensure that all district personnel receive basic emergency
management training and exercise their emergency response plans beyond fire and tornado drills.
Emergency management training for school personnel can be obtained online from the Federal
Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). The recommended FEMA independent study
courses include the following:
IS-100.a Introduction to Incident Command System
IS-200.a ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
IS-362 Multi-Hazard Emergency Management for Schools
The online courses are located at: http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp. The superintendent
should also host joint exercises with city and county emergency first responders and district
personnel, conduct after-action reviews, and develop corrective action plans based on the lessons
learned from the drills and exercises.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation could be implemented with existing resources.